Broad Street Run Had Lots of Medical Care Ready to Respond -- Some Obvious, Some Not
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It was no accident that help was nearby whenever runners suffered health problems at last Sunday's Broad Street Run.
A large force -- both contracted and volunteer, both planned and impromptu, provides medical support for the event.
"Our team is quite comprehensive," notes race director Jim Marino, who says that paramedics and EMTs from the Philadelphia Fire Department are joined by volunteers from National Event Services, which provides safety at stadiums and festivals, from Temple University Medical System, from the US Navy fire department, and from other armed service organizations.
And then, he points out, there are the runners themselves.
"They notify authorities right away (of problems) when they're running," he tells KYW Newsradio. "We've had numerous doctors over the years that are running in the race stop and help take care of people that have gone down along the way. Nurses have done the same thing."
Indeed, runners may be in the safest possible place to have a medical emergency -- such as the 35-year-old who had a heart attack just two miles into the race. Marino says FBI and Homeland Security officers were there immediately.
"They were all trained in cardiac care services, and it worked out very well," he says.
